Pride
by DaringDani123
Summary: My name is Blake. I'm part of The Pride. And this is our story now.
1. Prologue

i do not own Maximum Ride, or any recognizable elements, which belong to James Patterson. I only own my original characters which I have created, along with the plot.

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My name is Blake. Short for Blakelyn.

Pleased to meet you, I guess.

Bet you're wondering _why_ exactly I'm writing this, right? Well, I am too, but Molly said it might help.

Whatever that's supposed to mean.

I doubt it, but hey, whatever. I'll give it a shot.

I guess I should tell you about my Pride - my family - and where we came from, right? I guess that's how these things work.

Well, the oldest is Gabe. His name is actually Gabriel, but he doesn't like it. Probably because I started calling him Gabriella. He's not exactly a small fry - he's gotta be over six feet tall. He's blond, though, so I tend to tease. It's what I do. Keeps him from taking me too seriously. Anyway, he's sixteen. Only four months older than me, and he never lets me forget it, either.

After me, comes Kitti. Her name is Katherina, but hey. Kitti sounds better. She's fifteen, and about... oh... five-foot-four. She's short. I don't really trust her all that much, but I guess I can delve into that later.

Then comes Jag, our thirteen-year-old pet. All he ever does is talk, and he talks _fast_. Heck, everything about him is fast. And he eats like there's a one-hundred year famine on the way. Let him loose on the world, and there would be.

And, finally, the baby of the group, Vicky. Seriously, she's a baby: Only two-and-a-half. She's my little sweet-heart, really. I've taken care of her since the Zookeepers dumped her on me back when she was really little. I didn't mind, though.

As for where we came from, surely you've heard of Itex and all it's branches, yada yada yada. We came from one, located down in good ol' Mexico. Everyone calls it 'The Sanctuary'. It was a small-but-well-paid little place. We were among the only recombinant-DNA projects there. Mainly, their department was the DNA part. They worked on grafting and creating creatures just from their DNA. Kind of like that dinosaur movie, where they create dinosaurs from the DNA stuck in the mosquito.

Okay, not really. But that's the best way I can describe it. Who do you think I am, some kind of Zookeeper?

Zookeepers were what we called the scientists that worked at The Sanctuary. They were decent enough, for scientists anyway. They fed us, gave us clothes, made sure we were 'comfortable', if you'd believe that.

But enough about that. Since Itex was 'taken care of' by the _wonderful_ Maximum Ride, we were shipped to that stupid 'Lerner School for Gifted Children'. Or whatever it's called. I don't really care, to be completely honest.

It's not really any better than The Sanctuary was. At least at The Sanctuary I didn't have to study, or do chores, or anything else. All I had to do was run on a treadmill, comply with the blood tests, etc, etc. Here, there's _math_.

Ugh. Talk about cruel and unusual punishment.

And that... that... the _marvelous_ Maximum Ride got to skip out. We didn't. She and her merry _flock_ got to go where ever they wanted, whenever they wanted.

How could she be so lucky? She's got four loyal friends, that dark one that's obviously head-over-heels with her, freedom, _wings_, not to mention a freaking_ dog_!

You've heard her story, about how she's supposed to 'save the world' and all.

Now it's our turn.

It's nothing personal, really. We've never even met.

It's just the way things are.

Cats just don't like birds.

And yes, I do mean cats. Well, actually, _big _cats.

Lion, tiger, snow leopard, cheetah, and panther, to be exact.

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okay, my first attempt at a MR story. did it suck terribly? i don't know if anyone has ever done a story like this, cause i haven't read any. review? please? i'll try and update asap.


	2. Chapter 1

I stared at the building before me. I'm sure that outwardly, I looked impassive. I made that a habit of mine. But inside, I was practically foaming at the mouth with rage. I was livid, but I looked bored.

Excellent cover, huh?

I sensed Gabe come to stand beside me, his blond, shaggy hair blowing in the Virginia breeze - oh, God, I said that? Shoot me. Shoot me now. - with Vicky in his arms. Jag was on my other side, while Kitti was just diagonal to him.

"Come on, guys," Gave led the way towards the entrance. "Let's get it over with."

Ugh. Traitor.

I scowled at his back as we followed, making Vicky giggle as she looked at me over his shoulder. I cracked a goofy grin at her, causing her to giggle some more.

"Alright!" Jag exclaimed, bounding past me in a flurry of baggy pants and yellow hair, to stand beside Gabe. "We're gonna get to be X-Men! Sweet!" He looked around the place eagerly. "Wonder if anyone like Rogue, or Kitty'll be there! Like, the ones from the movies, cause they're _hot_."

I rolled my eyes, but couldn't help my smile. "We already have a Kitti, Jag."

But seriously. Lerner School for Gifted Children _did_ sound like Prof. Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, or whatever it was.

"Oh joy," I could hear the sarcasm in Kitti's normally emotionless voice. Yup, that's right, the bleach blond in the preppy clothes and make-up is really goth. Fancy that.

Our 'chaperones' from the private jet that brought us here followed us to the door. We'd decided to call them Curly, Larry, and Mo. Curly, the only chick, had hair even curlier than mine. And hers looked permed - mine's natural. Larry was the guys actual name, and Mo got stuck with Mo simply because he was the last one there.

The doors opened for us, good lord, and a smiling woman dressed in a pale purple skirt-suit with long, black, pin-straight hair and dimples greeted us.

"Hello there! My name is Dr. Amelia James, but everyone calls me Molly. You must be the group of kids from Mexico, the feline-humans, that we've been expecting."

"Yeah," Gabe nodded. "That's us."

"And from what I understand, it's Gabriel, Katherina, Charles, Victoria, and Blakelyn, correct?"

I just about cracked at Jag's real name. _Charles_. Gets me every time. But I decided to correct her. "Kinda. It's Gabe, Kitty, Jag, Vicky, and Blake." I gestured to each of us as I said our names.

Molly just kept smiling. "Alrighty then! I think I can take them from here, you three, thanks for your help!" She nodded to the three stooges, and they left out lickety-split.

Lucky ducks.

She turned that annoying smile back on us. "Now, let's take a tour, shall we?"

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whoa. can i just say thank you to you guys? that was the most reviews i've EVER had for a single chapter. i'm glad this got positive feedback, and i appreciate it alot. Anonymous Friend, your descriptions were actually replays of what i actually have planned. for the most part, anyway. i know Vicky and Blake sound a lot like Angel and Max, but i assure you that there will be some differences between them. it just helps them _relate. _thanks for reading, and please review?


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